With the draft completed and no free-agent signings yet in sight, Hawks go back to work.

Michael Lee - Staff
Saturday, June 26, 2004

The Hawks set the foundation of their rebuilding plans during the NBA draft Thursday night whey they selected Stanford's Josh Childress and local high school product Josh Smith. But general manager Billy Knight knows that his work has barely begun: He doesn't have a big man or anyone to coach the team.

After working the phones diligently Friday in failed attempts to acquire one of the frontcourt players that slipped away in the draft, Knight said his attention has shifted toward hiring a coach.

Knight still needs to meet with Detroit Pistons assistant Mike Woodson next week, and "after that, I'll make a decision," Knight said. He has interviewed Del Harris, John MacLeod, Dwane Casey, Mike Brown and Mike Fratello and hopes that the coach he hires will find a place for the players he has drafted.

"I think the coach will like the kind of players that we have," Knight said. "We'll have that understanding when we do have a coach." Knight is hopeful that he'll have a coach in place in the early stages of the free agent signing period, which begins July 1.

The salary cap will be set in mid-July and is expected to slide slightly from the $43.8 million of last season. That leaves the Hawks with roughly $18 million to spend this summer --- enough to sign a maximum-contract player, a collection of good side dishes or both.

The Hawks have four players under contract --- power forward Alan Henderson, point guard Jason Terry and small forwards Chris Crawford and Boris Diaw --- and they are expected to pick up the extension on guard Travis Hansen in August. The first-year rookie salaries of Childress ($2.08 million) and Smith ($1.06 million) will put the Hawks' payroll at about $23.3 million. The Hawks also plan to sign second-round picks Donta Smith and Royal Ivey, which would add about $800,000 to the payroll.

Stephen Jackson is not going to pick up the $1.1 million option on his contract and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. He averaged a career-high 18.1 points last season and will be on the priority list of at least four teams this summer --- the San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Portland Trail Blazers and Indiana Pacerss.

The Hawks clearly have more pressing needs. "We need big people," Knight said. "If I'm walking down the street and I see a big guy, I might sign him." Expect the Hawks to make a push for restricted free agents Kenyon Martin of New Jersey, Stromile Swift of Memphis --- whom Knight drafted with the No. 2 pick in 2000 --- and Detroit's Mehmet Okur to bolster the frontcourt. They probably will attempt to re-sign Jason Collier, a 7-footer who played well in the second half of the season.

THE RAPTORS have decided to hire Sam Mitchell as their next head coach, according to NBA sources. Barring a last-minute change of heart, an official announcement could be made as early as Tuesday, following the Canadian federal election on Monday.

Mitchell has been on the coaching staff with the Milwaukee Bucks for the past two seasons, but more recently he had been hired to be the lead assistant under coach/GM Bernie Bickerstaff with the expansion Charlotte Bobcats.

Mitchell, a 13-year NBA player, was a candidate for the Raptors' coaching job last season, too, on the strong recommendation of then-Raptor and good buddy Antonio Davis.

In fact, when the Raptors decided on the since-departed Kevin O'Neill as coach instead of Mitchell, it was the final nail in the coffin of the relationship between the Raptors and Davis. The Raptors traded Davis to the Chicago Bulls last December.

Of course, the Raptors general manager last summer was Glen Grunwald. The onus this time falls upon new Raptors GM Rob Babcock.

Mitchell, 40, is seen as one of the up-and-coming coaches in NBA circles. Just about everyone who knows Mitchell seems to agree he is going to be a good head coach, perhaps even a great one someday. But the question on everyone's lips is: "Is he ready?"

Mitchell will inherit a Raptors roster that might undergo an overhaul before the team takes to the court again next fall. Vince Carter has requested a trade through his agent, but it's not known if the club will take that request seriously, or if it simply will wait for him to cool down.

After Babcock took over on June 7, he said he would prefer to have a coach in place by the entry draft, but a more realistic target date was July 1. Babcock definitely wants a coach in place in time to monitor the Raptors' entry in the Minneapolis summer league, which takes place in the first week of July.

Mitchell, a product of Mercer University, played in 994 regular-season games and 59 playoff games with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Indiana Pacers.

Other candidates to coach the Raptors this time around included Seattle SuperSonics assistant Dwane Casey and Detroit Pistons assistant Mike Woodson.

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SAM'S THE MAN

A look at Sam Mitchell, whom sources say will be the next coach of the Raptors:

PLAYER: Drafted 54th overall by Houston Rockets in 1985; played in CBA, in France and joined expansion Minnesota Timberwolves in 1989; traded to Indiana in '92 and re-signed with T-Wolves in '95; finished his career among club's leaders in many categories; known as a solid player at both ends whom many felt would one day be an ideal head coach.

bulletproof

06-26-2004, 10:39 AM

Didn't Billy Knight have a big guy that he traded away for almost nothing? :unimpressed:

Ragnar

06-26-2004, 10:57 AM

Bullet do you think for a minute that Rasheed would have stayed in Atlanta? And to get anything in return in a sign and trade they would have been taking back bad contracts from the Knicks. While I am angry that he traded him to a contender for nothing I can understand why they did it. They got out from under a lot of bad deals and did not add new ones.

As far as Jackson goes, he is a good player but come on what do we need another sf for. Unless of course we trade Bender, Al and Ron for T-Mac. If that happens then I could see signing Jackson but otherwise it seems like we have enough sf's we need a Brent Barry or even a Fred Hoiberg.

bulletproof

06-26-2004, 11:10 AM

Bullet do you think for a minute that Rasheed would have stayed in Atlanta? And to get anything in return in a sign and trade they would have been taking back bad contracts from the Knicks. While I am angry that he traded him to a contender for nothing I can understand why they did it. They got out from under a lot of bad deals and did not add new ones.

I'm just suggesting if a big man was such a concern to Knight he could've gotten more for Sheed than he did in a mid-season trade. The guy apparently lacks foresight. He almost single-handedly derailed our finals run with that asinine trade.

As far as Jackson goes, he is a good player but come on what do we need another sf for. Unless of course we trade Bender, Al and Ron for T-Mac. If that happens then I could see signing Jackson but otherwise it seems like we have enough sf's we need a Brent Barry or even a Fred Hoiberg.

I hope we shoot higher than Barry or Hoiberg.

Mourning

06-26-2004, 11:31 AM

Well, personally, I rather like Brent Barry and I think IF we were to trade Al for him we could get a few additional things from the Sonics aswell as he has indicated he wants to leave them, so that lowers the value they could get for him. Throw in Pollard in from our side and try to prey Murray and one their bad contract centers away from them. And we have strengthened our guard position quite considerably, while Center well.... it couldnt become weakened to what it was with Pollard, right? Best of all we dont need to trade half our team away and Brent is proven quality not some rookie who WILL MAKE MISTAKES at important moments in the coming year.

Barry only scored very little over 10points per game, but look at his FG%, 3PT and his FT%:o than take into account he's on a team with virtually only shoot-first players, that tells me he shoots well and he's smart as he takes the good shots. He would shoot more on our team, I believe and he could help our PG share the playmaking duties, say if we were to sign AJ or a player like him again, we would have Barry who could bring up the ball much better IMO.

Big question for me is, offcourse WHAT does Barry demand? How long a contract does he want, because thats where I think the Sonics didnt want to go along with him, together with the salary demand (how clichee can it be?).

Regards,

Mourning;)

Ragnar

06-26-2004, 12:10 PM

I mentioned them because they are free agents and could be signed to less than than (Hoiberg) or right at the mid level without giving up a single player.

Now if we could do that and dump Pollard on a team under the cap like the Jazz, Nuggets or Hawks who are in need of a big man we would not even be in LT territory and would would have added a shooter to esentially last years team.

We were extremely close to a title last year. We just needed a guy who could hit those big shots. Reggie didnt get it done. I think what we need now is our own Kerr/Paxson type of player.

Ragnar

06-26-2004, 12:11 PM

P.S. I realize we must move either Al or Ron but we could move one of them for other parts if we sign the right sg or trade for Q-Rich for cheap.

TheSauceMaster

06-26-2004, 04:39 PM

I would welcome Stephan Jackson , I think he could be a great additon and we wouldn't have to chop the team up , I like his energy and many other things.

Hoop

06-26-2004, 06:51 PM

I would welcome Stephan Jackson , I think he could be a great additon and we wouldn't have to chop the team up , I like his energy and many other things.

Stephen Jackson wouldn't be a bad pickup, he performed very well for the Spurs in the Playoffs a couple of seasons ago.

MSA2CF

06-26-2004, 08:07 PM

It would depend on what moves we would do to accomodate Stephen. He's a forward, as someone has already pointed out.

Congratulations Sam Mitchell; I think he will have the Raptors in the playoffs either this year or the next.

Hicks

06-26-2004, 08:30 PM

People are saying he's a forward, but he started at 2 for the 2003 Spurs.

Hoop

06-26-2004, 08:56 PM

People are saying he's a forward, but he started at 2 for the 2003 Spurs.

That's what I thought too.

Anthem

06-26-2004, 09:55 PM

he played some forward for the Hawks because they didn't have a small forward. So they played a lot of Jax at 3 and Terry at 2.

Speaking of Sam, I sure wish someone had video of his takedown of Rodman, what, 9 years ago. Funniest thing I've ever seen in a game. :chuckle:

Mourning

06-28-2004, 04:32 PM

Btw isnt Jackson close to being a walking turn-over machine? I remember some stat that indicated he was VERY high on the numbers of TOs he produced, but I cant really judge as I havent seen any Hawks game last season......

thank god!!!!!:bowdown:;)

Regards,

Mourning;)

Will Galen

06-28-2004, 04:44 PM

Btw isnt Jackson close to being a walking turn-over machine? I remember some stat that indicated he was VERY high on the numbers of TOs he produced, but I cant really judge as I havent seen any Hawks game last season......